Coming off a contentious televised debate, Republican Marco Rubio has now jumped to a two-to-one lead over Independent candidate Charlie Crist in Florida’s U.S. Senate race. Democratic Congressman Kendrick Meek still runs third.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Florida shows Rubio with 50% of the vote, up nine points from just over a week ago and his best showing in the race to date. Support for Crist, the state’s current GOP governor, has fallen to a new low of 25%, while Meek captures 19%. Three percent (3%) like another candidate in the race, and three percent (3%) more are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Late last month, Rubio picked up 41% support to Crist’s 30% and Meek’s 21%. Prior to this survey, support for Rubio since mid-April has ranged from 34% to 41%. During that same period, Crist has gotten 30% to 38% of the vote, while Meek’s backing has fallen in the 15% to 23% range.

This statewide telephone survey of 750 Likely Voters in Florida was conducted on October 7, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/-4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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